PSA to honor Frayna, Medina in awards rites

MANILA, Philippines -  Janelle Mae Frayna and Josephine Medina, along with the San Miguel Beermen are among the recipients of major awards during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Night presented by San Miguel and Milo  on Feb. 13 at the Le Pavilion in Pasay.

The three will be joined by 15 other major awardees during the two-hour program co-presented by Cignal/Hyper HD, including members of the Philippine team to the Rio de Janeiro Games, who met the Olympic qualifying standard to earn berths in the quadrennial meet.

Among the Olympians to be feted are tracksters Eric Shaun Cray, Marestella Torres-Sunang, Mary Joy Tabal, taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora, table netter Ian Lariba and weightlifter Nestor Colonia.

Olympic team member Miguel Tabuena meanwhile, will be honored with the title Mr. Golf while silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz is going to be bestowed with the coveted Athlete of the Year.

The yearly affair, held by the country’s oldest media organization, has Smart, Phoenix Petroleum, Gold Toe, Foton, ICTSI, Globalport, Mighty Sports, and Rain or Shine as major sponsors.

Also part of the major awardees are the Philippine Poomsae team that won gold medals in the 10th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Lima Peru, world boxing champion Johnriel Casimero, golfer Yuka Saso, and ONE championship lightweight title holder Eduard Folayang.

Motorbike champ Marvin Mangulabnan, Jockey of the Year Mark Alvarez, and Horse of the Year Low Profile complete the list of major awardees in the gala night also backed by the PBA, SM Prime Holdings Inc., Philippine Sports Commission, ACCEL, MVP Sports Foundation, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Meralco, NLEX and Federal Land.

Frayna made history last year when she became the country’s first woman grandmaster, achieving the rare feat during the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Medina meanwhile, bagged the country’s only second medal in Paralympic history when she won the bronze in the women’s singles class 8 (table tennis) during the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first medal for the country since powerlifter Adeline Dumapong also won a bronze during the 2000 edition of the meet in Sydney.

And then there were the Beermen, who made a record comeback from 0-3 down in their title series against the Alaska Aces to retain their PBA Philippine Cup title.